With Express Pool, Uber Offers an Even Cheaper Ride Option

The ride-sharing app's latest product, Express Pool, costs up to 75 percent less than a regular Uber X.

If you’re a regular Uber user, you know the feeling. You request your UberPool, cross your fingers, and pray to the gods above that you end up alone in the car share. Unfortunately, those rides are set to become fewer and farther between, as Uber seeks to perfect rider-driver matching in its latest product, Express Pool. But they will be way, way cheaper—up to a whole 75 percent cheaper than a regular Uber X. So cheap, in fact, that some rides will cost just $2 (that's cheaper than a San Fran Muni bus ticket).

Launched today in Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Denver (pilot cities San Francisco and Boston have had it for a few weeks now), Express Pool adds something new to your journey: walking. In an effort to make those shared rides more efficient, cheaper, and direct, you'll now have to walk to and from your designated pick up and drop off points so the driver doesn't have to deviate from the route to get you where you need to go.

In this new option, you’ll request your Express Pool from, say, that bar or museum you just explored, wait a couple of minutes, and then your Uber app will connect you with your ideal driver, according to Ethan Stock, Uber's Director of Product: Shared Rides. That driver-rider match won’t be be at your front door anymore. Once you’re connected with your route, the app will map your walk to meet your driver (probably one or two blocks), who will then pick you up and then drop off a few people on the way before finally leaving you one or two blocks away from your final destination.

We'll admit. It's a lot of steps—figuratively and literally. The trick here is to request your Uber about 10 minutes before you need to leave, Stock told reporters last week, which will give you plenty of time for the app to match you with your driver and for you to reach the meet up point.

The new Uber Express Pool interface.

Courtesy Uber

Yes, walking two whole blocks sounds like a lot of effort for a service that's all about convenience. But the new option streamlines the existing Pool program, which means less wait time and better matched riders who are also traveling along your route thanks to Express Pool. Say goodbye to those infuriating loops to drop someone off way out of your way, then.

“If you’re pulling out your phone and choosing Express Pool time after time, we want you to feel like there’s going to be a consistent experience every time and the confidence that you’re going to have a really straight, really smooth trip,” Stock said. “Plus, the trip is actually faster. You’re no longer diverging, taking these detours. By spending that little waiting time up front, while you’re finishing getting ready and trying to get out the door, we can find the right driver for you and your drive will be faster than a regular Pool ride is today.”

So, why choose UberPool at all now that Express is an option? The regular Pool still picks you up and drops you off at your door—key if you don't want to walk two blocks on a rainy day. You'll have to pay a premium for that door-to-door service, but you won't show up for brunch sopping wet. Yes, Express Pool will be affected by surge pricing, just like every other facet of the app. But, if more people are using the service that gets them where they need to go efficiently (say, Pool or Express Pool over Uber X) surge pricing will decrease, as the app will be able to take more people on fewer routes.

Express Pool won’t be available for airport pick-ups just yet, but drop-offs are okay if you're using Uber as a traveler. However, the app is also courting another group that usually uses public transport or drives to work: commuters. Express Pool is another part of Uber’s plan to get more cars off the roads. Since launching in 2014, Uber Pool's one billion rides have saved 56,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 6.3 million gallons of gas. “More people are taking fewer cars, together. And that means less congestion on the road and less pollution," said Meghan Joyce, Uber’s Regional General Manager for the U.S. and Canadian cities. "It means that our cities can be a little bit more of an enjoyable place.”

If a $2 Uber means avoiding a cramped rush hour BART train in San Francisco or hours spent alone in L.A. traffic, we'll take it.